2014 Game of the Year

So, this list isn’t a list of my favorite games that released out in 2014… this is a list of my favorite games I played this year. Some are old games that I just finally got around to, some are new games.

Want to know who won in other years? Here’s the 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2013 list.

2014 is THE YEAR OF NEW!
This past year has been about my new systems. I bought both a Wii U and a Playstation 4, so most of the games I played were on those systems.

So, without further ado, my 2014 list of favorite plays (in no particular order):

Assassin's Creed: Black Flag

This game was one that I bought on a whim. I had a break from work (I’m a teacher, so I get off most holidays), and I wanted an open world to explore. I played this on PS3 (I didn’t have PS4 yet) and I was incredibly impressed. I doubt that there could even be a better pirate game. The ship sailing mechanics astounded me so much! MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Pikmin 3

This is a game I got for free with the Mario Kart 8 promotion. I loved both Pikmin 1 and 2, and so 3 was a natural get for me. While controlling 3 characters at a time and the inferior control scheme (as opposed to the Gamecube controller) makes me rank it the lowest in the series, Pikmin 3 was still a marvelous play and an absolute must-own for anyone with a Wii U. MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Red Dead Redemption

This is a game that actually made an “honorable mention” in last year’s GOTY post from me. I got to Mexico and quit… well, I’m happy to report that I got the urge to play the other half. It was awesome, one of the best stories ever told in videogames. Much like Black Flag was the best pirate game, Red Dead is certainly the best cowboy game ever made. I cannot wait to see what’s next in the series! MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Mario Kart 8

Best is a word I use too much, I guess, but Mario Kart 8 is the best racing game I’ve ever played. The DLC that came out is great, too. My friends started a weekly tournament, which we played for many weeks after! I even won a good portion of them! I have, somehow, become extremely good at this game, to the point where I barely have anyone to compete with. MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Skyrim

This is a game that made the same list last year. At that time, I hadn’t even beaten it yet. 2014 allowed me to do so, finally, after putting a million more hours into it. I also achieved the status of a platinum trophy. I will probably end up playing Skyrim again in 2015, since I have the goal to get all of the rest of the DLC trophies. I did a massive writeup about my thoughts on this game. MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U

Smash is the game I obsess over every time it is announced. I watch videos, read blogs, I click on the smashbros.com site, I surf smashboards.com, and I OBSESS. Sometimes, I think my anticipation of the game is almost as fun as actually playing it. It’s so much fun to speculate over which characters and etc. will be in the game. I’m doing something really special for my inevitable blog post about Smash, but I’m going to take my time on it. It’s already the longest post I’ve ever made, and I’ve made TONS of new artwork specifically for my review. I’m thinking that the end of January/beginning of February will be when I post this, and when I do, I’ll update here, too.

Mass Effect 2 and 3

I didn’t play the first game, because I owned a PS3 and began with 2. 2 was a game I started when it first released, but I never finished it. 2014 was the year I took to beat the game, and the sequel, too. This game had amazing world building aspects. I loved the alien races and graphics. The dialog and dynamics of choice were cool, too. This was almost a tie to win my GOTY award, but I chose the other because this game’s ending was a little frustrating. MORE THOUGHTS BY ME ON THIS GAME HERE!

Honorable mentions: (still just games I played in 2013, not necessarily released)

Super Mario 3D World – Very fun but quite easy! I beat this within a few short play sessions and got most of the stars/unlockables!

Shadow of Mordor – A fun sandbox with an enemy system that created a personal story of my adventure

Assassin’s Creed 3 – I played half of this game after Black Flag, but it’s not as good. Still quite fun, though

Fallout: New Vegas – I revisited this game so that I could platinum it. I began a new playthrough to do some evil
Wii Fit U – An exercise game I put a lot of time into. I was hoping for DLC, but they never made any

NES Remix – I love retro Nintendo, so this was right up my alley. I hope they made 100 more of these, covering all the old systems
Sonic’s Sega Genesis Collection – A game I got with Christmas money last year. It was fun enough for me to platinum!

The Oxyborb Blog Game Of The Year for 2014

Infamous: Second Son & First Light

Strangely enough, I never wrote about this game on my blog. I suppose it’s because this game was so good that I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to say about it. I loved the past Infamous games, and guess what? I loved this one. I played Second Son twice! I got the platinum, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
 

a pic I took from the top of the Space Needle

Infamous has been a series that has helped me through extremely tough times. I beat the first two games after going through a divorce and leaving Seattle, a city where I learned so much. I learned how to make friends. I learned how to be alone. The first two Infamous games felt like the spirit of Seattle, they felt like the experiences I was going through. Loss. Anger. Sadness. Survival.

I loved Seattle. I loved being in motion, a place where things were happening. Seattle was a city I missed, and then Sucker Punch, the developers of Infamous, announced that Seattle would be the city setting for the next game. I was stoked. I saw the game and yearned for it because it was my way of going back. Of course, I realized that the game’s Seattle and real Seattle were not 1 to 1 or even nearly the same, but the spirit of the city is what made me feel at home again. I climbed the Space Needle. I walked into silly hipsters with their coffee. Second Son brought me back to Seattle at a time when I really was missing the city.

My emotional reasons for loving the game are not the only reasons why I picked it. Truth is, I had a dilemma between picking Second Son and Mass Effect. ME has the better story, but SS has a great story too. SS has better characters, but Mordin is the best character.

The biggest reason why Second Son wins for me is gameplay. Being a conduit is FUN. I love all the powers in Second Son and First Light. Neon is ingenious. Concrete, smoke… video…  these are powers that were designed for an urban environment. They were extremely well thought out, and they were extremely fun to use. Second Son had an extreme variety of things to do and ways to play. It was impossible to get bored.

So, I guess that’s it for 2014. Thanks for a great year on my blog! Let me know what you think in the comments, in fact, tell me what your personal GOTY was!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!
UNRAVELSPACE UNRAVELTIME

Pikmin 3 - My Thoughts and Ideas For Improving the Sequel

If you’ve ever read my blog, you know I don’t review games. My blog is about dissecting games and trying to analyze specifically what the problems are and how to fix them. Also, I like to give my creative ideas and constructive feedback, in hopes that I can contribute to the conversation for how games can be better.

Thorn Pikmin

This is not a review of Pikmin 3. If it were, I would say how much I loved the use of the tablet for a map, the art and sound design, the music, the characters, the puzzles. I would say how much I think Pink Pikmin were ingenious, especially when used alongside Blue Pikmin. The Bee-Queen boss battle was furiously fun. I absolutely enjoyed my time with Pikmin 3 for Wii U, which is awesome because I got it for free. When I purchased Mario Kart 8, it came with a download for P3, and to be honest, I’ve loved P3 even more than MK8.

But this isn’t a review. I want to talk about the issues I’ve had with the game and the creative ideas I have for (hopefully) the sequel (please, please make one!).

Rock and Purple

Black Pikmin

First, I just want to say this: Rock Pikmin are just a rehashed Purple Pikmin. I feel like Purple Pikmin could have been used to break glass as easily as rock ones. I feel like making a new “weighty” Pikmin showed a lack of creativity. Why do the same idea twice? It would have been just as easy to bring back purple as use rock, since they’re so similar.

Now, I want to say that Winged Pikmin are the BEST. I love them. The new abilities of Yellow Pikmin with that electricity chain thing is AWESOME. Good work! I wish there had been more of this… for example, Red Pikmin could get a fire burning on their leaves if they pass through flame, which would allow them to set fires to piles of brush or monsters. Blue Pikmin could absorb water and shoot it at enemies or move it to make ponds elsewhere… I wanted more of this kind of thing, however Yellow Pikmin were the only one of the old Pikmin to get new abilities. Also, I wish I could have gotten to play with White, Purple, and Bulborb Pikmin just for posterity's sake. Maybe they could have just been a cave-specific thing.

Missed opportunities for Rock Pikmin:

I had a bunch of cool ideas for how Rock Pikmin could have been differentiated from Purple Pikmin, and here they are: